As Western analysts point out, it was the use of gas against the Ukrainian military that helped the Russian occupiers achieve limited success in the Chasovoy Yar and Bakhmut regions of Donetsk region earlier this year.
Points of attention
- The Russian army has been using poison gas against the Ukrainian military in Donbas, contributing to the occupiers' limited success in various regions.
- The use of poison gas violates the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and poses a serious threat to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
- The Ukrainian military must prioritize obtaining high-quality gas masks to protect themselves from gas attacks, with potential assistance from countries like Great Britain.
- The increase in incidents involving gas attacks by the Russian army highlights the urgent need for effective protective measures for Ukrainian soldiers.
- The use of gas as a tactical weapon by the Russian occupiers in Donbas underscores the ongoing challenges faced by the Ukrainian military and the significance of international support in addressing this issue.
What is known about the use of poison gas by the Russian army on the soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Donetsk region
The article emphasizes that currently the occupation army of the Russian Federation is also using gas against the Ukrainian military during the offensive towards Pokrovsk.
According to retired British army colonel and chemical weapons expert Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, the Ukrainian military can resist the use of gas by the Russian occupiers at the expense of equipment received from Britain.
Hardly a new form of warfare, it was gas that broke the deadlock in the war of position in April 1915, when the Germans used chlorine against unsuspecting and unprepared Allied troops who had to turn and flee. The results are the same in Ukraine more than 100 years later, says Bretton-Gordon.
The authors of the article emphasize that until January of this year, the Ukrainian military recorded no more than 600 cases of use of poisonous gas substances by the Russian occupiers on all areas of the front since the beginning of the large-scale invasion.
However, in the first half of 2024, the number of incidents involving the use of gas by the criminal army of the Russian Federation against the Ukrainian military increased to 4,000.
Some units are exposed to gas attacks 2-3 times a day, usually CS gas or chloropicrin. The latter was developed during World War I as a chemical weapon to incapacitate soldiers in the trenches. Both are illegal under the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention, signed by Russia and Ukraine, Bretton-Gordon explains.
The British analyst emphasizes that the Russian occupiers are succeeding in the difficult battles in Donbas precisely because of the use of gas.
Drones drop gas canisters over the trenches, the gases make breathing very difficult and cause vomiting. Without a mask, the only way to mitigate the attacks is to get away from the gas. After the soldiers leave the trenches, reconnaissance drones direct artillery fire and attack UAVs on them, — emphasizes Bretton-Gordon.
How the Ukrainian military can protect itself from gas attacks by the Russian occupiers in Donbas
Also, as the colonel added, the problem of equipping the Ukrainian military with high-quality gas masks must be solved, with which the British government can help.
The UK is the largest and best producer of respirators on the planet, fully supplying the needs of the US MoD, the UK MoD and most NATO countries. This non-lethal aid should be much easier and faster to authorize than some of the lethal targeting permits that President Zelensky is so urgently requesting. You can't waste time, says the analyst.
